Hanger for material in sheet form

ABSTRACT

A hanger for decorative sheet material such as posters, pictures, record covers and the like, comprises a channel member of generally U-shaped cross-section having a longitudinal opening or slot at one side thereof defined by inwardly bent, oppositely towards each other inclined tabs extending from the ends of the leg portions of the U-channel member which clamp the sheet material in between them or permit their engagement with a hook provided on the sheet material over a selected tab for support of the sheet material. Selectively, one side of the U-channel type hanger member maybe provided with pressure sensitive adhesive portions to secure the hanger member to a supporting surface such as a wall or the like.

United States Patent Cram 1 June 20, 1972 54 HANGER FOR MATERIAL INSHEET 2,823,004 2/1958 Melloh ..248/3ll x FORM 3,001,748 9/1961 Austin"2,696,962 12/1954 Goss ..248/20l X [72] Inventor: Robert S. Cram,Detroit, Mich.

73 Assi ee: Desi Creations Inc. Detroit, Mich. fim'm'm-william Schultz 18n an Attorney-Cullen, Settle, Sloman & Cantor [22] Filed: Sept. 4, 1970211 App]. m: 69,825 [571 ABSTRACT A hanger for decorative sheet materialsuch as posters, pic tures, record covers and the like, comprises achannel member [52] U.S. Cl. ..248/467, 248/316 D, 2482/2/83], ofgenerally ushaped ammo having a longitudinal [51] Int. Cl A47 opening orslot at one side thereof defined by inwardly bent, 5s FleldolSearch..24s/201 316D 451,452 453 wads mndmg 'f 248/466 467 490 the ends of theleg portions of the U-channel member \VhlCh clamp the sheet material inbetween them or permit their engagement with a hook provided on thesheet material over a [56] References Cm selected tab for support of thesheet material. Selectively, one UNITED STATES PATENTS side of theU-channel type hanger member maybe provided with pressure sensitiveadhesive portions to secure the hanger 3,350,045 10/ 1967 Mayer's..248/467 X member to a supporting surface such as a W3 the mm 3,315,3254/1967 C0mel1us.. ..24/67 R 3,552,702 l/l97l Springer ..248/3l6 D 1Claim, 6 Drawingflgures HANGER FOR MATERIAL IN SHEET FORM BACKGROUND ANDSUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to hangerstructures and more in particular to hanger structures for substantiallyflat sheet materials.

In hanging substantially flat, decorative sheet materials such aspictures, posters, record covers, leaf calendars, charts or the like toa supporting surface, conventionally separate means are employed. One ofthe means is associated with the particular material to be hung and theother means generally comprises a supporting hook associated with thesupporting surface, which is generally semi-permanently embedded in thesupporting surface. This conventional arrangement of hanging flat sheetmaterial from a likewise generally flat supporting surface, isobjectionable in that first: the hanger means as sociated with the flatsheet material are usually permanently fastened thereto and distractfrom the general decorative appearance of the sheet material and,secondly: the supporting means associated with the supporting surfaceare generally damaging to the supporting surface by being embeddedtherein.

This conventional arrangement is further objectionable, in consequenceof the above defined structure, in that selective relocation of the hungsheet material from one place to another is made more difficult, timeconsuming and as stated before, may be damaging to the supportingsurface by having to relocate the semi-permanent supporting means fromone location on the supporting surface to another.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an improved hanger means forflat sheet material which has no potion permanently fastened to eitherthe supporting surface or to the supported sheet material. The improvedhanger does not distract from the general decorative appearance of thesheet material but rather adds a decorative touch to the sheet materialto be supported. Additionally, the hanger has easily applicable andselectively removable means for securement of the hangers to thesupporting surface without causing damage to the supporting surface.

The present improved hanger structure comprises a longitudinal channelmember generally of U-shaped cross-section which along one side providesa slot formed by inwardly and toward each other inclined resilient tabmembers integrally formed with and extending from the oppositeflanges ofthe channel member whereby the respective sheet material may be clampedwithin the channel member by insertion between the resilient tabmembers. If the decorative sheet material is provided along one or twoopposite sides with integral hook means, which is often the case in suchmaterials as posters and the like, the hook means may be convenientlyhooked over a selected tab within the channel type hanger member.

One of the longitudinal flange portions of the hanger member is providedwith one or more pressure sensitive adhesive portions by which thehanger members may be conveniently secured to a supporting surface andsimilarly conveniently removed therefrom for relocation.

Further advantages and distinct features of the present invention areset forth in the following detailed description of a preferredembodiment thereof with reference to the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings illustrateseveral preferred embodiments of the present invention, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a sheet material supported and hung bymeans of the present improved hanger structure;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-section through the sheet material and hangerstructure assembly illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of another form of sheet material supportedand hung by an alternate form of hanger structure;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-section through the sheet material and hangerstructure assembly of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fractional cross-section through the Q improvedhanger structure of the present invention and portions of the sheetmaterial shown supported therein as seen along 5-5 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a similarly enlarged fractional cross-section through thepresent improved hanger structure and another form of sheet materialsupported therein as seen along line 6 6 in FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2of the attached drawings, a decorative flat sheet material, such as aframeless picture, record cover or the like, is indicated by the numeral10 and has an upper longitudinal margin 12 by which the sheet material10 is supported within the present improved hanger structure 14.

The hanger structure 14 is comprised of a longitudinal, rectangularchannel member having a generally U-shaped cross-section as seen in FIG.2 and more in detail in FIG. 5. The hanger 14 comprises oppositelongitudinal side flanges 16 and 18, respectively, integrally connectedto a transverse bridge portion 20 to form a U-channel configuration.

Withmore particular reference to FIG. 5, the free ends of thelongitudinal side flanges 16 and 18 of the hanger 14 are each providedwith a longitudinally substantially flexible tab portions 22 and 24,respectively, which may be formed integrally with the lower ends of theside flanges 16 and 18 by any known manufacturing process. Thelongitudinal tab members 22 and 24, respectively, are bent inwardly intothe U- channel between the side flanges 16 and 18 and extend in aconverging direction towards each other.

In order to hang the sheet material 10 which, as mentioned, may be arecord cover or the like, the upper margin'l2 of the sheet material isinserted between the tab members 22-24 into the U-channel of the hangerl4 and is retained therein by means of the flexibility of the tabmembers 22-24 which exert an opposite retaining force against the sidesof the margin 12 of the sheet material, sufficient to retain the sheetmaterial in a free hanging position in the U-channel type hanger 14. I

The hanger 14 may be made from any suitable, preferably lightweight,material such 'as sheet metal or from a suitable synthetic material suchas nylon, perlon, Teflon or the like and may be colored or ornamentedfor decorative purpose to similate a frame, adding to the aestheticappearance of the sheet material 10.

In one form of the embodiment in FIG. 1 and 2, for hanging the sheetmaterial 10 onto a supporting surface, such as a wall, a wire hanger 26is provided of a shape generally resembling a wire cloth hanger havingits longitudinal base portion extending through the U-channel typehanger 14 to abut underneath the transverse bridge portion 20 thereof.The opposite, toward each other converging leg portions of the wirehanger 26 extend into another U-channel hanger member 14a ofsubstantially shorter dimension. The short hanger member 14a is disposedin reverse position to the primary sheet material hanger 14 and isprovided along one of its side flanges with pressure sensitive adhesiveportion 28 adapted for attachment to the supporting surface (not shown).It will be understood, that the intermediate wire hanger 26 andsupporting hanger may be omitted and the adhesive portion 28 may beprovided directly on the sheet material supporting hanger 14 for directattachment to a supporting surface, as will be described In theembodiments of FIGS. 3 and 4, a pair of the present improved U-typehanger member 14 is utilized to support the upper and lower margins of asheet material 30, which in this instance, may be of a relatively soft,foldable material such as used for posters, single sheet calenders,charts and the like. These sheet materials usually have a stiffeningflange provided along their upper and lower edges made of sheet metal orthe like which, in the embodiments in FIGS. 3,4 and 6 is utilized toretain the flexible sheet material 30 in the hanger member 14.

As seen in FlG. 6, the upper stiffening flange 32 of the sheet improvedhanger-structure for flat sheet material to be supmaterial 30 isslightly bent outwardly so that, when the upper margin of the sheetmaterial 30 is inserted in the U-channel type hanger 14, the stiffeningflange 30 will hook over one of the longitudinal tab members 22 or 24,respectively, as shown,

to thereby retain the sheet material 30 in a supporting downwardlydepending position in the U-channel type hanger 14. In order to preventcrinkling or curling of the flexible sheet material 30, the lower marginof the sheet material, which is likewise provided with a stiffeningflange 32, is similarly supported within another U-channel type hangermember 14 disposed in opposite direction to the upper hanger member 14,as seen in FIG. 4.

To support the sheet material 30 in a depending position i .from asupporting surface, one longitudinal side flange 16 or 18, respectively,of the hanger member 14 is provided with a plurality of pressuresensitive adhesive portions 28 to attach the hanger member to therespective supporting surface (not shown). Conversely, the sheetmaterial 30 may be hung in the fashion illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The provision of the lower hanger member 14 for the flexible sheetmaterial 30 is provided to add sufficient weight and stability to thesheet material 30 so that, when the sheet ported from a supportingsurface whichv is constructed such as not to damage the sheet materialin hanging and which adds a decorative touch to the sheet material whenapplied thereto.

The present improved hanger structure issuch as to permit easyrelocation of the sheet material from one supporting surface to anotherwithout damage to the supporting surface and permits separation of thesheet material from the hanger for interchange with another sheetmaterial.

The present improved hanger structure is particularly adaptable for alltypes of sheet materials, decorative or otherwise, which are notinitially provided with integral hanging means. 1

Although the present invention has been described by means of apreferred embodiment, various changes in detail and material of thestructure may be made without departing from the spirit and essentialcharacteristic of the invention as indicated by the scope in theappended claims.

I claim:

7 1. A poster hanger for supporting and suspending a poster comprising:

an elongated substantially rigid channel-shaped member having a uniformcross sectional configuration in the form retaining flantgaeis alsofunctionin .to define an upwardly extending re mng lip adapte tointerlock wrth a downwardly bent flange extending along the length of aposter top edge to thereby create an interlocking retention of theposter flange behind said lip which normally prevents the poster frombeing removed from the hanger except by longitudinally withdrawing itthe full length of the hanger.

1. A poster hanger for supporting and suspending a poster comprising: an elongated substantially rigid channel-shaped member having a uniform cross sectional configuration in the form of an inverted U, the parallel opposite depending side flanges of the U terminating in upwardly and inwardly converging retaining flanges which terminate in laterally spaced poster-gripping edges, said side flanges being yieldable to permit the lateral gap between said retaining flange gripping edges to widen as a poster upper edge is slid upwardly through said gap, said gripping edges being adapted to maintain a resilient gripping force on a poster sufficient to hold it suspended from the hanger, said retaining flanges also functioning to define an upwardly extending retaining lip adapted to interlock with a downwardly bent flange extending along the length of a poster top edge to thereby create an interlocking retention of the poster flange behind said lip which normally prevents the poster from being removed from the hanger except by longitudinally withdrawing it the full length of the hanger. 